Meet Mr. Gibbons!

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In a school as small as East Rockaway, a new face is always a hot topic. As our school is one big family, we like everyone to be comfortable with the administration, teachers and students. For the 2018-2019 school year, we have not one, but three new members of our administration: Mr. Schaffer, Mr. Kraus, and the topic of our article today, Mr. Gibbons. Mr. Gibbons is East Rockaway’s new Social Studies and English chairperson who we had the pleasure of interviewing for our article. Read on to learn the inside scoop on golfing, grad school, Shakespeare and so much more.

Mr. Gibbons attended Oceanside High School, one of East Rockaway’s neighboring schools. In Oceanside High School, he developed a love for English and Social Studies. “I remember reading Julius Cesar in English class, I was Marc Anthony, and I still remember the whole speech,” he told us. In addition to English, he expressed to us his love for social studies as well. His father was a social studies teacher, so from an early age this influenced Mr. Gibbon’s love for the subject. In 11th grade Mr. Gibbons took AP US History where he had a teacher that would deeply inspire him and ultimately influence his career path. Mr. Gibbons said that he always made class fun and this quickly became his favorite class that year because of how great this teacher was. After graduating from high school he attended the University of Delaware. He also went onto receive his Master’s in Education from Hofstra, and a Master’s in Administration from Hunter College.

In addition to being the new Social Studies and English chairperson, Mr. Gibbons teaches and is able to connect with students in a classroom setting. He teaches Pre-AP Global as well as Family Criminal Law, which is one of his favorite classes to teach because he can be creative with his teaching. Mr. Gibbons says that he likes to incorporate some of his personal qualities so that the class is not too serious, and that he likes to have fun with the material in order to develop a better attitude towards learning it. In regards to being a Social Studies teacher, Mr. Gibbons told us that he loves Constitutional Law, and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. He also enjoys studying the past and present Supreme Court cases, which connects to the club that he currently advises, Mock Trial.

Though it’s hard to imagine teachers having a life outside of school, we learned a lot about what Mr. Gibbons does when he’s not at work. Mr. Gibbons informed us of his many interests, one being his love of travel. He told us that his favorite place he had ever been to was Argentina, and that he will be traveling to Europe in a short while. He also talked to us about his love of sports, specifically golf, and how big of a Yankees fan he is. When he’s not doing either of these, he likes to spend breaks from school with family.

We asked Mr. Gibbons how East Rockaway compared to other school districts he had worked at/attended, and he told us that East Rockaway has a whole different feel to it. “It really just has this small community feel, like a family,” he told us, “and it’s crazy to me that you all know each other.” When asked what he would like East Rockaway to know about him, he responded that he wants everyone to know that he is very excited to be a part of our community, and that he wants to work hard to make a change for the better to our Social Studies and English Departments.